The Midwest Conference released its 2018-19 Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll on Wednesday and Lake Forest College was third in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head women's basketball coaches. Each coach votes for the other nine schools in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (nine points for first, eight for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
Ripon College (73 points) received three of 10 first place votes and edged out St. Norbert College by just two points for first place in the poll. St. Norbert was listed at the top of four ballots, Lake Forest (60 points) two, and Cornell College (59) one.
Seven of the Foresters' top eight scorers from a year ago are back this season, including First Team All-MWC guard Kelsey Burton and Second Team All-MWC forward Hannah O'Day. Burton was also named MWC Newcomer of the Year and D3hoops.com Central Region Rookie of the Year after leading the team with 14.2 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game. O'Day was next on the squad with 11.2 points per contests and added 5.2 boards per game. Lake Forest finished the 2017-18 campaign 13-14 overall and fourth in the MWC standings with a league record of 9-7. The Foresters qualified for the four-Team MWC Tournament for the first time since 2012 and advanced to the event's final for the first time in a decade.
Lake Forest will open the 2018-19 season Thursday night against visiting University of Chicago. Conference play will start November 30 at home against Grinnell College and the team will play 16 league games. The MWC Tournament will be hosted by the league champion February 22-23.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Ripon College (3) | 73 |
| 2 | St. Norbert College (4) | 71 |
| 3 | Lake Forest College (2) | 60 |
| 4 | Cornell College (1) | 59 |
| 5 | Knox College | 51 |
| 6 | Illinois College | 44 |
| 7t | Lawrence University | 40 |
| 7t | Monmouth College | 40 |
| 9 | Grinnell College | 22 |
| 10 | Beloit College | 10 |